


Sparkles

by szczepter



Series: The everyone is a girl AU [4]
Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: F/F, Festivals, Rule 63, for kagakurosummer yo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-20
Updated: 2014-07-20
Packaged: 2018-02-09 16:09:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1989288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/szczepter/pseuds/szczepter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Another year, another festival.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sparkles

Taiga tapped her foot impatiently and looked at her wrist watch for god knew which time. It was getting late.  _Kuroko_  was late. She promised to meet Taiga at the festival, but Taiga preferred they’d go together. For some reason Kuroko didn’t want that. It puzzled Taiga, but nevertheless she agreed to meet the other girl at the place, near the entrance.

And now she was late.

Not by much. It was barely 10 minutes, but it still unnerved Taiga. Plus, among the whole midst of dressing and hair and makeup she forgot her cell.

Great.

Taiga wanted to attend the festival, dressed like a normal person; jeans and a t-shirt and maybe also bring a small backpack. But  _noooo_. Both Tatsuya and Alex insisted that she had to wear a  _yukata_.

And it was pink. With cherry blossoms.

She probably looked like a big, pink  _mochi_. No wait. She  _knew_  she looked like that.

Taiga grimaced in front of the mirror when Tatsuya was fitting her belt and Alex was busy brushing her hair. She was absolutely against any makeup, but the two fiends managed to sneak in some eye shadow and other crap.

_"You can’t be so unruly on your date Taiga."_

_"It’s not a date."_

_"Sure it isn’t."_

Well, no it wasn’t. A date. It was just an occasion for her and Kuroko to spend some time as friends. Plus Kuroko did promise Taiga that she would make it up for the last year, when they lost Nigou in the crowd and had to look for him for the course of the whole festival, and Taiga didn’t manage to see any stands or play any games.

At least she  _did_  manage to eat some, so it wasn’t time wasted. Not that she thought it was time wasted in the first place. But Kuroko didn’t need to know that.  

Taiga looked at her watch again. Fifteen minutes. She tapped her sandal clad foot. She refused to wear the  _geta_ , she was sure she would get blisters and she didn’t want to walk like a penguin.

Being a returnee was so frigging difficult sometimes.

"Where the hell is she?" She grumbled.

"I’m here." Taiga screeched and jumped.

"Goddamn it Kuroko!" The shout caused some of the attendants and passersby’s give her dirty looks but she ignored them.

"You’re late."

"I apologize. I got held up." She said. Taiga snorted.

"What was so important?" Taiga asked and Kuroko shrugged and averted her eyes. When she brushed some of her hair behind her ear, Taiga realized Kuroko looked a bit different, but she couldn’t decide in what way. She shrugged mentally. Probably a trick of the light.

"Whatever. Can we go finally? I can’t fucking wait to look at the stands!" At the mention of the attractions something flashed over Kuroko’s face, but then it was back to her usual, blank expression. She nodded.

"Let’s go then."

 

* * *

 

The festival wasn’t like the one last year. For starters it was smaller, or rather cozier. It had less stands and less games which was a little disappointing, but not enough to temper Taiga’s excitement. It was also situated near some grass fields and a nice little hill from where the participants could watch the fireworks.

Taiga assumed that they would be able to go through the stands at least three times and still be able to see the firework, as this time Kuroko didn’t seem to bring Nigou with her.

"Where’s your mutt?" Taiga asked.

"At home." Kuroko replied curtly and Taiga had to sigh.

"Stop beating yourself over it okay? It was a year ago. I’m not mad." Kuroko looked up at Taiga with something resembling a pout or a frown. At least Taiga assumed it was that. It was hard to guess, considering Kuroko’s expressions were very limited.

They approached the stands with food at first because Taiga was fucking starving. After five servings of  _yakikori_ , six of  _takoyaki_  and three of  _dango_ Taiga concluded that she was finally full.

"Kagami-san will get fat if she eats so much." Kuroko teased as per usual and skillfully avoided a jab in the ribs.

"It’s not me who eats sweets all the time." Kuroko shrugged and nibbled at her candy apple.

"Let’s go play some games." Kuroko suggested and Taiga nodded, dumping the wrappers in the trash can. Taiga had some money to spear, but she was surprisingly picky when it came to games. Fish scooping was ruled out, because she didn’t have any intention of taking care of it. Races were also out of the question, because Taiga didn’t want to run in a confining  _yukata_. So that left only shooting games.

"How’s your aim Kagami-san?" Kuroko asked when Taiga scooped the three tennis balls in her arm. She bounced one for a moment and then threw it suddenly at the target, which was a simple plastic rim. The ball missed it only by a small margin. The second throw was also a miss, but the third one went in.

"Well what do you think?" Taiga asked smirking at unfazed Kuroko.

"Could be improved."

"Hey!"

Taiga accepted the prize for the third place, which was puppy keychain from some current cartoon.

"It’s like you are taunting me with that dog, even when he’s not here." She grumbled and dumped the keychain in Kuroko’s hands. "You can have it." Kuroko gave Taiga a reprimanding look.

"What?"

"You could have phrased that differently Kagami-san."

"What’s wrong with how I phrased it?"

"Sounded like you were getting rid of your trash." Taiga blinked.

"What the hell are you talking about? Of course it’s for you dumbass. Ugh gimme that. If you don’t want it."

"No." Kuroko clutched the keychain to her chest. "It’s mine now." Taiga rolled her eyes.

"Whatever. Let’s go look around some more." Kuroko nodded and smiled a little.

 

* * *

 

Taiga was aware that she was all giddy when she took in all the colorful and various stands around her. The memorabilia were mostly pop cultural crap, but for some reason it made her all the more excited.

They made their way among the stands with various souvenirs. Taiga snorted when they passed by the masks and Kuroko sent her a not amused expression, which only made Taiga chuckle more.

"Kagami-san has terrible sense of humor." Taiga snorted.

"You’re the one to talk. Besides you haven’t seen yourself." Kuroko sighed, but didn’t continue the argument.

"Are you looking for something specific Kagami-san?" Kuroko asked, after a while when it became apparent that they were roaming aimlessly around the festival.

Taiga shrugged.

"Not really. I just wanted to look. I guess I want to get something to eat again soon." Kuroko shook her head.

"Unbelievable. It’s a wonder you don’t have problems with your weight."

"Oi!" Taiga swung her arm, but it was very half assed and Kuroko avoided it easily ducking her head.

"I have fast metabolism."

"Of course."

They made their way back to the food stands and Taiga bought some more _takoyaki_.

"Kuroko do you want- NO FUCKING WAY." Taiga screeched when she turned around towards the other girl and found an empty spot.

"You gotta be fucking kidding me." She grumbled and stuffed the rest of the food in her face. She looked, but she couldn’t find her friend near the stand.

"Shit." She grumbled. "Where the hell is she?"

"I’m right here." Taiga jumped and whipped around. Kuroko looked up at her, blank faced and all.

"Don’t disappear on me!"

"I only went to get something to drink." She said and handled Taiga a bottle of water.

"Couldn’t you tell me?" Taiga grumbled and snatched the bottle from Kuroko’s hands.

"I thought I would be able to make it before you ate, but I underestimated your appetite." Taiga rolled her eyes. It was just so like Kuroko to tease her and be a little shit.

"Whatever. Just don’t do that anymore. I don’t feel like looking for you."

"Understood. I won’t leave your side anymore." At that Taiga sputtered and choked on her water. Damn Kuroko and her weird sense of humor.

"By the way." Kuroko said when Taiga regained her breath. "I thought you might appreciate this." She pulled an object from her small purse and put it in Taiga’s palm. The girl blinked confused.

"Wh…why did you got me this?" She starred at the blue water whistle in the shape of a bird. Kuroko shrugged. It wasn’t the same as the one from a year ago, but that wasn’t the point. The point was that Taiga completely forgot about it, yet Kuroko remembered.

"Um." She was at a loss really. And had a weird tingly feeling in her stomach. Kuroko frowned.

"If you don’t want it…"

"No!" Taiga clutched the whistle to her chest. "I mean, I want it, thanks." She said and grinned sheepishly. Damn Kuroko, making her feel all sorts weird things.

Kuroko nodded.

"Can we go look at the fish scooping?" She asked when Taiga was inspecting the whistle.

"What? Why?" Kuroko shrugged.

"I just want to look at it. Then we can go up on the hill and watch the fireworks."

"Fine." Taiga sighed. She supposed she owe something nice to Kuroko for the whistle. "Let’s go."

In the end they ended playing the fish scooping, much to Taiga’s dismay. Plus she was awesomely bad at it and Kuroko kept chuckling and being generally unhelpful.

"Shut up dumbass." Taiga snapped and threw the net into the little pool. Kuroko rolled her eyes.

"Kagami-san needs to really work on her temper."

"Kagami-san needs to really work on her temper. Screw you." Taiga mocked and flicked Kuroko on the forehead, to which Kuroko scooped some water from the pool and splashed it in Taiga’s face.

"Oh no you didn’t." Taiga rolled up the sleeves of her  _yukata_  (as much as she could) and proceeded to return the favor. Kuroko gasped and covered herself with her hands when Taiga splashed cold water at her.

Eventually the very angry owner of the stand told them to stop so they left. Kuroko shook her hair which was still a little damp.

"Kagami-san has no manners."

"Me? You started it?" Kuroko shook her head again this time in exasperation, but there was a small smile on her face, so Taiga didn’t pester the other girl. Besides, she also couldn’t help but feel content when Kuroko smiled like that. Like she was right where she wanted to be. Or at least Taiga assumed that small smile could be interpreted like that. After all, Kuroko was blank as a whiteboard most of the time, so reading her was a real challenge. Good thing that Taiga lived for challenges.

They managed to walk a few meters before Taiga heard a whistle.

"Hey, babe, are you alone?" Taiga whipped her head and glared at the man, boy actually. He couldn’t be much older than her; he could even be her age for all she knew. Taiga raised an unimpressed eyebrow.

Catcalling? Really? She shrugged and turned around, decided to ignore the creep.

"Come on Kuroko." She said and nudged the girl. As she expected the guy didn’t notice Kuroko at all.

The other girl sent the boy a last, brief glance before she followed Taiga.

"Hey, it’s not nice to ignore people." Suddenly Taiga felt someone grab her writs. She turned around and wrung her wrist from the boy’s grip so fast, that he stumbled.

"What the hell?" The boy grumbled. "What’s your problem?" Taiga felt her brow twitch.

"And what is yours?" She came up to the boy and realized that she could tower over him with all her bulk, even if they seemed to be the same height. The boy scowled.

"Whatever. You’re not even my type." He said and turned around, intending to leave. "Dyke."

Taiga felt herself getting more annoyed.

"What did you say?" Taiga was ready to follow the offender, when she felt a hand on her arm. She looked down at Kuroko who shook her head slowly.

"Don’t, Kagami-san. It’s not worth it." Taiga looked at the retreating boy and then at Kuroko and then again at the boy and then signed.  

"Whatever." She grumbled and felt Kuroko let go of her forearm.

"I think it’s time we go see the fireworks." Kuroko suggested and both of them started walking in the direction of the hill.

Climbing it wasn’t easy, especially in sandals or  _geta_  (Kuroko wore them), so after a few minutes of struggling both of them took off their shoes and proceeded to do it barefoot. Kuroko had to grab fistfuls of her  _yukata_  so that she wouldn’t tangle her legs and fall face first into the grass. Taiga already caught her a few times by the arm, risking falling herself.

By the time they reached a nice, unoccupied slope they were both a little tired.

"Damn things." Taiga cursed her  _yukata_  which was still tangling around her legs. She really wished for her pair of worn jeans and sneakers.

"Kagami-san is clearly not suited to wearing feminine attire." Kuroko commented and Taiga had to snort.

"Look who’s talking." It was true. Kuroko wasn’t in better shape, her powder blue  _yukata_  with white cranes was twisted around her middle and the belt which held it was a bit undone.

Kuroko was struggling to get it right and it was sure to topple over on her ass any minute now. Taiga sighed and grabbed the other girl by the hips.

"You’ll fall in a moment. Gimme that." She quickly corrected her belt. They paused and stood in silence. Kuroko looked up at Taiga, her face partially covered by the shadows created from the lamps. In that moment Taiga also realized that her hands were still lightly gripping Kuroko’s hips.

"Uh." She grunted and let Kuroko go.

"Thank you." Kuroko said, breaking the suddenly uncomfortable silence.

The atmosphere between them was so weird recently. There was this tension in the air whenever they shared a longer or more profound glance and it made Taiga nervous. Not in a bad way however. And  _that_  in turn made her uneasy. Feelings weren’t something Taiga was particularly good or willing to deal with (she suspected Kuroko was the same; otherwise the girl would have said at least  _something_ ).

She knew where she stood; she liked Kuroko. Probably more than as a friend. She knew what she wanted, she just wasn’t sure Kuroko wanted the same. She didn’t lie when she said this outing wasn’t a date. Because it wasn’t. However, it wasn’t something casual or strictly platonically friendly either. At least not for _her_.

Kuroko sat on the grass and set the  _geta_  next to her. Taiga plopped down next to her and stretched her legs. They hurt a bit from all the walking, but it was bearable. It wasn’t like after playing Aomine for the first time. Kuroko also stretched her legs and bumped their knees. In this position, hers came up barely to Taiga’s calves.

They sat in silence for a while, Taiga played with the water whistle when she suddenly felt a light pressure on her arm. Kuroko very subtly leaned against her. Taiga eyed Kuroko’s hands resting on her lap. It was tempting to be bold and just grab her hand and twine their fingers and just…get it over with.

Yeah, like it could be that simple.

Taiga rubbed her arm and then jumped when Kuroko’s head rested on her shoulder. The girl’s fluffy hair tickled Taiga’s nose. She smelled a bit like cinnamon, sweat the candy apple she had. Taiga vaguely remembered that it was the only thing Kuroko ate that day and she frowned.

She was about to tell Kuroko that they should get some more food when the fireworks started. Both girls started. It was typical for Taiga to be jumpy but Kuroko being startled was so surprising that it was actually amusing and Taiga had to snort into Kuroko’s hair. She felt the other girl huff and jab her lightly in the ribs. Taiga grinned. They were both so weird.

"Fireworks, Kagami-san." Kuroko’s soft voice made it through the sound of fireworks going off and people making impressed noises.

Oh right.

Taiga looked up and yeah, it was pretty and all, but somehow she couldn’t really care about them when Kuroko was comfortably snuggled up to her side.

She felt Kuroko shift and then her eyes widened when slightly chapped lips pressed a very light kiss to her cheek. Taiga whipped her head and looked at Kuroko who was staring at her intently and she could swear that there was a light dust of pink across the bridge of her nose, but she couldn’t be certain because it was dark and blood was rushing in her ears making her a bit lightheaded.

Okay a lot.

A lot lightheaded.

The fireworks were still going off and Taiga was suddenly aware that she didn’t make any move nor did she say anything for a very long moment. Kuroko’s blush was beginning to fade and she started to look more disappointed than determined. Taiga caught with the corner of her eye the slight change in Kuroko’s body language, indicating that she wanted to shift  _away_  from Taiga and that felt just  _wrong_.

Acting on impulse she leaned forward and brushed her lips over Kuroko’s forehead.

A moment later Kuroko’s hand sneaked its way into Kagami’s lap and she laced their fingers together. Taiga smiled against Kuroko’s forehead and presses another kiss.

"Watch the fireworks, Kagami-san." Kuroko mumbled into Taiga’s neck. No one paid them any mind and Taiga felt her body relax. She lifted her arm and wrapped it around Kuroko’s shoulders.

"Don’t want to." She said. Kuroko looked up at her with a raised eyebrow. Taiga grinned.

"I still have another year." Kuroko huffed and let herself be tucked against Taiga’s side more snugly.

The fireworks kept going off.  

 


End file.
